COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

Updates on both subsidized affordable and market-rate rental proposals in Lyons

by Amy Reinholds

The July 2 Lyons Board of Trustees meeting included updates about subsidized affordablerental proposals for Lyons Valley Park and 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive, and a decision about a market-rate rental in an accessory dwelling unit.

During a staff report, Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the trustees that Summit Housing Group, which has an agreement to purchase Tract A of Lyons Valley Park Filing 8, is creating a new concept design proposing to build 29 affordable rentals on that parcel. She said that Summit is also pursuing a purchase agreement for 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive and a concept plan that proposes 20 to 24 affordable townhomes there.

Summit, based in Missoula, Mt., is a development company that specializes in low-income tax credit and mixed-use developments. It develops and manages rental properties in 6 states, including Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, all which include portions affordable to people who make 60 percent of the area median incomes or less. The latest homes in Colorado are at 1205 Pace St. in Longmont. The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) program is a source of funding that helps developers build rental homes at lower cost. The LIHTC gives investors a reduction in their federal tax liability for every dollar they invest in financing to develop affordable rental housing. The investors’ equity contribution subsidizes the development, allowing housing units to rent at below-market rates.

On Jan. 29, the trustees approved a resolution authorizing a purchase and sale agreement with current owner Keith Bell, for an option to buy Tract A of Lyons Valley Park Filing 8. The town signed a joint letter of intent between Bell, president of Lyons Valley Park, Inc., who lives in Kansas, and David Wickum of Wickum Properties and Realty, based in Lyons. The letter stated that the Town of Lyons intended to purchase Tract A and work with public and private sectors to replace some of the housing lost in the 2013 flood, and that Wickum intended to purchase Lots 15-32 of Block 2 to develop single-family housing. A request for proposals (RFP) for affordable housing developers interested in partnering with the town for that Lyons Valley Park Tract A parcel went out in February. A selection committee (including representatives from the Lyons Valley Park Homeowners Association and the Lyons Planning and Community Development Commission) brought forward two finalists who presented to the Lyons Board of Trustees, and Summit Housing Group was selected by the trustees in March. The purchase and sale agreement with Keith Bell was then assigned from the Town of Lyons to Summit Housing Group, who will work directly with the seller.

Simonsen told the trustees on July 2 that Summit plans to hold another community meeting in July about the updated proposal for building affordable rental homes in Lyons. At a previous community meeting in May, input from several homeowners in the Lyons Valley Park neighborhood encouraged Sam Long, Summit senior project manager, to consider building only 29 homes instead of the 43 homes that Summit was originally planning for Tract A of Lyons Valley Park. Long said at that meeting that Summit determined that the Lyons Valley Park subdivision agreement allows for multifamily density on 3.82 acres of Tract A of Filing 8, allowing about 27-29 homes (whether built by Summit or someone else). Summit proposed rentals affordable to people who make about 60 percent of the area median income (or possibly less, depending on funding sources and investments like LIHTC).

Also at the July 2 meeting, the trustees heard a public hearing for a conditional use review for an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on a single-family-home lot at 310 5th Ave., owned by Randy and Georgie Pollard. The trustees voted 4-2 to approve the conditional use for the ADU, which had been previously built above a new garage that was constructed after the flood. This approval allows the homeowners of the single-family zoned lot to now rent the additional dwelling unit out to long-term tenants for a market-rate rent, instead of using it just for their own family. It also allows them to put in a full kitchen. The week before, the Planning and Community Development Commission (PCDC) approved the conditional user review more narrowly, 3-2.

The difference between the public comment from the June 25 PCDC meeting and the July 2 Board of Trustees meeting was striking. However, the Board of Trustees did not know exactly how big the difference was in public comment – other than an overview in the PCDC minutes and a brief staff report – and the “Open & Closed Case for BOT” article in last week’s Lyons Recorder did not mention the difference in the public comment at the two meetings, either.

At the June 25 PCDC meeting, the conditional use review public hearing for the 310 5th Ave. ADU included comments from four neighbors who had concerns with the applicants bringing the conditional use review forward for an ADU now, a year after the living space above the garage was permitted and built. It appeared to the neighbors that the applicants used the process to apply for a family living space above the garage to bypass the conditional use review process for an ADU. Comments also centered around how hard it was for everyone to rebuild after the 2013 flood, although the neighbors who spoke said they shared their rebuild plans with neighbors for input and had expected the same from others.

At the July 2 trustees meeting, four friends of the applicants, and a contractor who built the garage with the living space above, all spoke in favor of the proposal and said the homeowners were good people who weren’t “devious about anything” as one friend described it. Adjacent neighbor Joe Meckle was the only close-proximity neighbor who spoke before the trustees on July 2, and he opposed the conditional use as an ADU, which allows renting the unit to tenants outside the family. He reiterated the same concerns that he communicated at the June 25 PCDC meeting that if it was known that the space would be used for a market-rate rental (not just for the homeowners’ family use), when the garage structure was planned, the neighbors would have had input in a conditional use review at that time, instead of after the building was already completed, when it was too late to modify the footprint of the building or make other changes to ease the impact on immediate neighbors.

Despite the differences in public input from June 25 to July 2, the same facts remained at the July 2 public hearing: building the garage building was within current Town of Lyons code. The large size and height of the garage with the living space above met the requirements of a maximum 30-foot height allowed under Town of Lyons building code for buildings, including garages that are part of a single-family home residential lot. The four trustees who voted in favor of this conditional use as an ADU, allowing the homeowners to now rent the second building out to long-term tenants, said they voted that way because the building was allowed under town code.

Town code that meets the goals of fairness and equity for all single-family, residential property owners within town limits is what is at stake for Lyons, not whether applicants are good people. In my opinion, these applicants are good people, as are all the property owners who have applied for ADUs. It’s unfortunate that loopholes existed that allowed this large living space, including a high-end kitchen area with a refrigerator, sink, and a dishwasher – but not a stove, an attorney for the owners stated – to be permitted and built for family use only, without the required conditional use review for an ADU. A conditional use review would have allowed public input to both the PCDC and the trustees and notified neighbors within 300 feet – before the building was constructed. When I walked by the neighborhood recently, I thought the lot at 310 5th Ave. looks like an R-2 residential lot with two single family homes on it. The two structures, one the detached garage, look like two homes of similar size on one lot, yet it is still an R-1 lot.

All the trustees at the July 2 meeting (regardless of how they voted on the 310 5th Ave. conditional use review) said that fixing town code to eliminate this kind of loophole is once again their priority, as trustees have said before. “We do need to do something about the loophole in the town ordinance,” Trustee Juli Waugh said. “I’m concerned about density in old town. I’d like to see us start to address this at our July 16 meeting.”

Trustee Mark Browning, who had advocated for fixing this problem in the town code when he was on the PCDC before being elected to the Board of Trustees said, “This is a problem that the town created. I’d like to see this ordinance fixed before we grant any other ADU approvals.”

Mayor Connie Sullivan said “The board has set into motion a zoning code review to the PCDC that might have prevented a loophole.” She also addressed broader issue of legacy non-conforming ADUs (town staff knew of 21 a year ago). “We need to get the current ADUs that are already out there approved and know what steps will be taken to get those into compliance. I know town staff has been working on this,” she said, suggesting that an update of next steps could published as a staff report at an upcoming meeting.

This column is a weekly commentary (opinion column) in the Lyons Recorder about affordable housing after the September 2013 flood disaster in Lyons. The Town of Lyons lost about 76 to 94 flood-destroyed homes, and a 2015 proposal for using part of Bohn Park to build subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 homes) was rejected in a town vote, 614 to 498. Although other affordable homes have been proposed in the past year, so far, the only post-flood affordable housing actually in the construction phase is at 112 Park Street where Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley is building three duplexes (a total of 6 homes) on land the non-profit purchased at the end of 2016. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @hotmail.com. For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog at lyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com.

What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

Updates on Lyons Valley Park and eastern corridor proposals

by Amy Reinholds

The Lyons Board of Trustees heard two updates on June 4 about affordable housing proposals. Summit Housing Group is continuing due diligence activities for the site at Lyons Valley Park, considering a proposal for only 29 rental homes there – as Lyons Valley homeowners suggested at a presentation last month – if other homes can be built at another location like 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive. Also, the Greens, a partnership of food production, commercial development, and Thistle community housing, is still moving toward a sales and purchase agreement with the Town of Lyons for land on the eastern edge of town.

Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the trustees Monday night that Summit is in preliminary discussions with the owner of 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive about a possible purchase of the 2.13 acres in Boulder County next to the Baseline-Mocon industrial parcel and near the Eagle Canyon subdivision. She stressed that these discussions are only in the early stages and nothing has been confirmed, but that Summit is willing to consider dual sites to build the number of affordable rental homes they originally proposed, funding approximately 43 affordable homes with federal disaster recovery funds that have been earmarked for Lyons and investments through low-income housing tax credits.

Summit, based in Missoula, Mt., is a development company that specializes in low-income tax credit and mixed-use developments. It develops and manages rental properties in six states, including Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, all which include portions affordable to people who make 60% of the area median incomes or less. The latest homes in Colorado are at 1205 Pace St. in Longmont.

In the past two years, the Lyons Board of Trustees has been trying to find land for affordable housing, to not lose $4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds set aside for Lyons housing. Other federal funds were lost in 2015 when a proposal for using part of Bohn Park to build subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) was rejected in a town vote: 498 Lyons voters supported it, and 614 Lyons voters opposed it. However, with $4 million still reserved for Lyons in the years that followed, the trustees have pursued smaller options for housing.

At the end of January, the trustees approved a resolution authorizing a purchase and sale agreement with current owner Keith Bell, for an option to buy Tract A of Lyons Valley Park Filing 8. A request for proposals (RFP) for affordable housing developers interested in partnering with the town for that Lyons Valley Park Tract A parcel went out in February. A selection committee (including representatives from the Lyons Valley Park homeowners association and the Lyons Planning and Community Development Commission) brought forward two finalists who presented to the Lyons Board of Trustees, and Summit Housing Group was selected by the trustees in March. Then the purchase and sale agreement with Keith Bell was then assigned to Summit Housing Group.

Also at the affordable housing report at the June 4 meeting, the trustees also supported continuing to work with the Greens partnership on a proposal to purchase land east of U.S. 36 that the Town of Lyons owns. However a discussion with town staff and the trustees confirmed that no one advised taking the risk of relocating the planned site of the new Town of Lyons public works building, planned for the northeast portion of 4651 Ute Hwy, which has taken years to negotiate with FEMA, even if it moved to somewhere else in the 4.3 acres on the north side of Hwy 66 based on some proposed ideas from the Greens partners. The public works building is funded by three different funding sources, all which have a deadlines that require the project to be completed by end of 2019 at the latest. The trustees and town staff discussed how they didn’t want to risk losing the approximately $3.5 million counted on from a combinations of FEMA funds, federal disaster recovery funds, and insurance from the flood-destroyed building.

More than a year ago, the Town of Lyons purchased the former Longmont water treatment plant land east of U.S. 36 from the City of Longmont to use a portion of it as a permanent home for the town’s flood-destroyed public works building and to sell remaining available parcels to buyers who want to pursue uses described in the recent Lyons Primary Planning Area Master Plan. The land has been annexed into town, and the part that is for sale is currently zoned as agricultural land. The town put out the request for proposals for prospective buyers with development plans in the fall of 2017. The Greens partnership proposes purchasing all the land that Lyons is selling, on both the north and south sides of the highway (4.3 acres at 4651 Ute Hwy and 3.28 acres at 4652 Ute Hwy) for a mixed-use development that includes an innovative food agriculture business, a commercial kitchen, and affordable rental homes.

The Greens partnership, originally the only group to submit a fully completed application at the end of 2017 for proposals to purchase the land the town owns, has presented several updates to the Board of Trustees since then. In May the Greens partners presented and a workshop and at the following meeting, the trustees agreed to direct town staff to pursue next steps for a purchase and sale agreement. The Greens partners are Donna Merten, who owns a real estate development company and is getting a masters degree from the University of Colorado in sustainable food systems, Paul Tamburello, who runs a real estate development firm and serves on the board of the indoor farm and marketplace GrowHaus in Denver, and Mary Duvall, CEO of affordable housing nonprofit Thistle.

At the June 4 meeting, Kathie Guckenberger, consulting attorney for Town of Lyons, said that Tamburello has been working with the Town of Lyons’s attorneys on moving forward with a purchase and sale agreement proposal.

The Town of Lyons lost about 76-94 flood-destroyed homes in the 2013 flood. To get an accurate number of housing stock lost in the September 2013 flood, there are two ways to count. First, according to counts of Town of Lyons water taps/customer accounts, 94 customer accounts were lost after the flood (taking into account the 32 homes in Riverbend Mobile Home Park that were originally part of one water tap). However, some of those customer accounts were on Apple Valley Road (not in town limits), and some lots in town have more than one water tap/customer account. A second way to count is the number of flood-damaged homes in the Town of Lyons lost to both the federal buyout programs and to the changed use of the Riverbend Mobile Home Park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use), which totals 76 lost residential units. Federal buyouts totaled 44 units – including all residential units in the Foothills Mobile Home Park – and there were also 32 families who lost homes in the Riverbend Mobile Home Park, which was rezoned as a commercial wedding and lodging venue after the flood.

There are currently 26 permanently affordable rental homes in the Town of Lyons (already in town before the September 2013 flood): eight apartments at Bloomfield Place near the Stone Cup cafe, 12 apartments at Walter Self Senior Housing near the post office, and six apartments at Mountain Gate on 2nd Ave, all operated by the Boulder County Housing Authority. The only post-flood affordable housing currently being built is at 2nd Avenue and Park Street where Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley is building three duplexes (a total of six homes) on land the non-profit purchased at the end of 2016. To volunteer or donate, see www.stvrainhabitat.org.

This column is a weekly commentary (opinion column) in the Lyons Recorder about affordable housing after the September 2013 flood disaster in Lyons. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @ hotmail.com. For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog at lyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com.

COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

Updates on affordable housing proposals

by Amy Reinholds

Although not on the agenda for this week’s Lyons Board of Trustees meeting, there are a few updates about affordable housing in Lyons.

Lyons Valley Park proposal

Summit Housing Group, which was assigned the purchase and sale agreement to purchase Lyons Valley Park, Filing 8, Tract A from Keith Bell earlier this month, is completing due diligence tasks, including appraisals and geotechnical engineering assessments. Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen said that Summit will have to make a decision within a week on whether to move forward with the proposal for 43 affordable rental homes.

May 1 is the deadline for a letter of intent for applying for the higher level of federal tax-creditfinancing.

The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program is a source of funding that helps developers build rental homes at lower cost. The higher subsidy of tax credits to cover 70 percent of the costs of affordable units in a project (also referred to as “9 percent tax credits”) has a final application deadline of June 1.

The LIHTC gives investors a reduction in their federal tax liability for every dollar they invest in financing to develop affordable rental housing. The investors’ equity contribution subsidizes the development, allowing housing units to rent at below-market rates. For details about LIHTC, see chfainfo.com/arh/lihtc/overview.

If Summit does not get the higher “9 percent tax credits”financing option, then the lower “4-percent tax credits” are available with a longer, more flexible timeline. The so-called “4 percent tax credits” program has more flexible deadlines, and more options to apply, but it only covers 30 percent of the costs of affordable rentals in a development, and the affordable housing developers must find other sources of funding to make the project work.

The next step for Summit is a development plan that goes through the process with the Lyons Planning and Community Development Commission (PCDC), which includes public input. The architect from Summit also plans community outreach activities.

Lyons Valley Village, a co-housing community, is an example of existing multifamily buildings in Lyons Valley Park that are compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. According to research from Town of Lyons staff and attorneys reported at the April 2 Board of Trustees meeting, Summit’s proposed development will follow the same process as Lyons Valley Village did in the early 2000s because the title commitment for both Lyons Valley Village and Filing 8, Tract A explicitly says “subject to PRD,” which was used in 1969-1979 to allow multi-family housing, aligning with today’s PUD zoning. The consulting attorneys for the town reviewed the documentation and say it stands, which means that the Filing 8, Tract A does not require rezoning, can follow the same process that Lyons Valley Village followed. If Summit decides to move forward after all due diligence steps, the next step is a development plan with the PCDC.

Summit Housing Group won a request for proposals process last month, after a selection committee, including representatives from the PCDC and the Lyons Valley Park homeowners association, brought forward two finalists. Summit, based in Missoula, Mt., is a development company that specializes in low-income tax credit and mixed-use developments. It develops and manages rental properties in 6 states, including Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, all which include portions affordable to people who make 60% of the area median incomes or less. The latest homes in Colorado are at 1205 Pace St. in Longmont.

The proposal for Lyons includes a total of 43 rental homes (one is for the on-site property manager) in 12 buildings that are two stories. The buildings include 24 two-bedroom/2 bath, 1200 s.f. homes and 19 three-bedroom/2 bath, 1500 s.f. homes. In contrast to the 12 buildings proposed by Summit, about 25 large, market-rate, single-family homes could be built on the same land, according to Clay Dusel, a Lyons Valley Park resident and a PCDC commissioner, who spoke at a March 12 meeting.

If Summit can meet the June 1 deadline for a higher subsidy of federal tax credits for investors, more of the 42 rentals could be set aside for households who earn 30-50 percent of the area median income. A presentation from Rusty Snow of Summit to the trustees at a March 12 meeting showed that 30 percent of the area median income means a range of $20,640-$31,830 annual income for a one- to five-person household, and the range of affordable monthly rents for that income, based on household size, starts at $552-$766. And 50 percent of the area median income means a range of $34,400-$53,050 annual income for a one- to five-person household, and the range of affordable monthly rents for that income, based on household size, starts at $921-$1276.

If Summit can only get the lower level of tax credits, most of the rentals would be for households that earn 50-60 percent of the area median income. The rentals could be intended for households that earn as much as 60 percent of the area median income, which means a range of $41,280-$63,660 annual income for a one- to five-person household. The range of affordable monthly rents for that income, based on household size, starts at $1033-$1532.

In the past two years, the Lyons Board of Trustees has been trying to find land for affordable housing, to not lose $4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds set aside for Lyons. Other federal funds were lost in 2015 when a proposal for using part of Bohn Park to build subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) was rejected in a town vote: 498 Lyons voters supported it, and 614 Lyons voters opposed it. However, with $4 million still reserved for Lyons in the years that followed, the trustees have been pursuing several smaller options for housing.

9617 N. St. Vrain Drive purchase agreement

Another possible purchase of land for affordable housing in Lyons is 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive, 2.13 acres in Boulder County next to the Baseline-Mocon industrial parcel and near the Eagle Canyon subdivision. Simonsen said this week that the sales agreement is still active, pending further assessment.

There are currently 26 permanently affordable rental homes in the Town of Lyons (already in town before the September 2013 flood): eight apartments at Bloomfield Place near the Stone Cup cafe, 12 apartments at Walter Self Senior Housing near the post office, and sixapartments at Mountain Gate on 2nd Ave, all operated by the Boulder County Housing Authority. The only post-flood affordable housing currently being built is at 2nd Avenue and Park Street where Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley is building three duplexes (a total of 6 homes) on land the non-profit purchased at the end of 2016. To volunteer, sign up at www.stvrainhabitat.org/construction.

The Town of Lyons lost about 76-94 flood-destroyed homes. To get an accurate number of housing stock lost in the September 2013 flood, there are two ways to count. First, according to counts of Town of Lyons water taps/customer accounts, 94 customer accounts were lost after the flood (taking into account the 32 homes in Riverbend Mobile Home Park that were originally part of one water tap). However, some of those customer accounts were on Apple Valley Road (not in town limits), and some lots in town have more than one water tap/customer account. A second way to count is the number of flood-damaged homes in the Town of Lyons lost to both the federal buyout programs and tothe changed use of the Riverbend Mobile Home Park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use), which totals 76 lost residential units. Federal buyouts totaled 44 units – including all residential units in the Foothills Mobile Home Park – and there were also 32 families who lost homes in the Riverbend Mobile Home Park, which was rezoned as a commercial wedding and lodging venue after the flood.

This column is a weekly commentary (opinion column) in the Lyons Recorder about affordable housing after the September 2013 flood disaster in Lyons. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds@ hotmail.com. For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog at http://lyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com.

COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

Appraisal delayed for 19617 N St. Vrain Drive sales agreement

by Amy Reinholds

The appraiser who is working with the Town of Lyons for a possible site that could be sold to the Town of Lyons was delayed in finding “comps” for the parcel, Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen reported to the Board of Trustees on Monday.

Simonsen reported at the March 19 meeting that the appraiser evaluating the 2.13 acres at 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive said it was more complicated and difficult than anticipated to look at comparable sales in the area. He said he will do his best to get the appraisal completed by the end of next week, she said.

The seller said he wouldn’t be able to accept the agreement as currently written, but he was OK with waiting to see the appraisal.

On Feb. 20, the trustees approved a purchase and sale agreement with James D. Van Court for the town to purchase the land at 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive. After an appraisal to determine the purchase price, the next step will be to see if the seller accepts the agreement. The parcel would need to be annexed into the Town of Lyons, and if zoned as R-3, it could contain about up to about 23 units, according to reports at that February meeting.

The 2.13 acres are next to the Baseline-Mocon industrial parcel and near the Eagle Canyon subdivision. If the seller accepts the agreement, and the town decides to move forward, the Town of Lyons could also put out an RFP for affordable housing developers who are interested in partnering with the town for this parcel. According to the agreement, the purchase price will be equivalent to the fair market value as determined by an appraisal. The town will get an appraisal of the property by the end of the month, considering the value of the property both “as-is” and as if it were annexed into the Town of Lyons and connected to town utilities. The sales agreement is on the Town of Lyons website atwww.townoflyons.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3590?fileID=8168.

In the past two years, the Lyons Board of Trustees has been trying to find land for affordable housing, to not lose $4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds set aside for Lyons. Other federal funds were lost in 2015 when a proposal for using part of Bohn Park to build subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) was rejected in a town vote: 498 Lyons voters supported it, and 614 Lyons voters opposed it. However, with $4 million still reserved for Lyons in the years that followed, the trustees have been pursuing several smaller options for housing.

On March 12, the Lyons Board of Trustees awarded a bid for an affordable housing development in Lyons Valley Park, Filing 8, Tract A to Summit Housing Group and directed town staff to finalize a memorandum of agreement for consideration by the trustees. Summit Housing Group’s proposal included two options, based on applying for and securing different levels of federal tax credits. Depending on whether the group can meet a June 1 deadline for a higher subsidy of federal tax credits for investors, there could either be 42 rentals available for households who earn 50-60 percent of the area median income, or – if the greater subsidy is attained – more of the 42 rentals could be set aside for households who earn 30-50 percent of the area median income.

On Jan. 29, the trustees approved a resolution authorizing a purchase and sale agreement with current owner Keith Bell, which gives the Town of Lyons an option to buy Tract A of Lyons Valley Park Filing 8, already intended for 43 units of multifamily housing. The town signed a joint letter of intent between Bell, president of Lyons Valley Park, Inc., who lives in Kansas, and David Wickum of Wickum Properties and Realty, based in Lyons. It states the Town of Lyons intends to purchase Tract A and work with public and private sectors to replace some of the housing lost in the 2013 flood, and that Wickum intends to purchase Lots 15-32 of Block 2 to develop single-family housing.

If either Wickum or the Town of Lyons discontinues pursuing an intended purchase, Bell and Lyons Valley Park, Inc., will negotiate with the other party for a possible purchase. For example, if Wickum discontinues purchasing the Block 2 lots, the Town of Lyons could negotiate to purchase those as well. A price for all the tracts and lots won’t be negotiated until an appraisal is conducted, per Bell’s request. According to the agreement, Wickum and the Town of Lyons also plan to work in good faith to share infrastructure costs.

A request for proposals (RFP) for affordable housing developers interested in partnering with the town for that Lyons Valley Park Tract A parcel went out on Feb. 2, with a due date of March 5. Then, after a selection committee (including representatives from the Lyons Valley Park homeowners association and the Lyons Planning and Community Development Commission) brought forward two finalists, Summit Housing Group was selected on March 12 by the Lyons Board of Trustees.

The Town of Lyons currently has a total of 26 permanently affordable rental homes (already in Lyons before the September 2013 flood): eight apartments at Bloomfield Place near the Stone Cup cafe, 12 apartments at Walter Self Senior Housing near the post office, and six apartments at Mountain Gate on 2nd Ave. The only post-flood affordable housing currently being built is at 2nd Avenue and Park Street where Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley is building six homes (in three duplexes) on land the non-profit purchased at the end of 2016. To volunteer, sign up atwww.stvrainhabitat.org/construction.

The Town of Lyons lost about 76-94 flood-destroyed homes. To get an accurate number of housing stock lost in the September 2013 flood, there are two ways to count. First, according to counts of Town of Lyons water taps/customer accounts, 94 customer accounts were lost after the flood (taking into account the 32 homes in Riverbend Mobile Home Park that were originally part of one water tap). However, some of those customer accounts were on Apple Valley Road (not in town limits), and some lots in town have more than one water tap/customer account. A second way to count is the number of flood-damaged homes in the Town of Lyons lost to both the federal buyout programs and to the changed use of the Riverbend Mobile Home Park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use), which totals 76 lost residential units. Federal buyouts totaled 44 units – including all residential units in the Foothills Mobile Home Park – and there were also 32 families who lost homes in the Riverbend Mobile Home Park, which was rezoned as a commercial wedding and lodging venue after the flood.

This column is a weekly commentary (opinion column) in the Lyons Recorder about affordable housing after the September 2013 flood disaster in Lyons. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds@hotmail.com. For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog atlyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com.

COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

Trustees approve purchase agreement for 19617 N St. Vrain Drive

by Amy Reinholds

In the past year and half, the Lyons Board of Trustees has been trying to find land for affordable housing, to not lose $4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds set aside for Lyons. A third possible location was announced Feb. 20, when the trustees approved a purchase and sale agreement with James D. Van Court for the town to purchase a little over 2 acres at 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive.

The trustees voted 6-0, passing a resolution to approve the sales agreement. After an appraisal to determine the purchase price, the next step will be to see if the seller accepts the agreement, Mayor Connie Sullivan said at the meeting Tuesday night. The parcel would need to be annexed into the Town of Lyons, and if zoned as R-3, it could contain about up to about 23 units, Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the trustees.

Other than the 6 Habitat for Humanity homes underway at 2nd and Park, there are no other confirmed affordable residential units planned, although there are two other possibilities that could make use of the federal funds.

First, on January 16, the trustees heard from a partnership proposing to purchase town-own land east of Colo. Hwy. 66 and U.S. 36 for 45 affordable housing units for rent (built and managed by Thistle), agricultural food production with vertical greenhouses, a farm grocery, and a commercial kitchen. The trustees were supportive of town staff continuing to work with the partnership to gather more info.

Then on Jan. 29, the trustees approved a resolution authorizing a purchase and sale agreement that gives the Town of Lyons an option to buy Tract A of Lyons Valley Park Filing 8, already intended for 43 units of multifamily housing. The difference is that instead of just market-rate multifamily housing sometime in the future, the Town of Lyons might be able to leverage the federal CDBG disaster recovery funds to purchase Tract A and partner with an affordable housing developer to build units that are affordable to households that earn 60 percent of the area-median income or less. The town signed a joint letter of intent between Keith Bell, president of Lyons Valley Park, Inc., who lives in Kansas, and David Wickum of Wickum Properties and Realty. It states the Town of Lyons intends to purchase Tract A and work with public and private sectors to replace some of the housing lost in the 2013 flood, and that Wickum intends to purchase Lots 15-32 of Block 2 to develop single-family housing. If either Wickum or the Town of Lyons discontinues pursuing an intended purchase, Bell and Lyons Valley Park, Inc., will negotiate with the other party for a possible purchase. A request for proposals (RFP) for affordable housing developers who are interested in partnering with the town for the Tract A parcel in Lyons Valley Park went out on Feb. 2, with a due date of March 5. Interviews with the applicants are expected starting March 8, with a final recommended selection going to the trustees by March 12.

Now, with a sales agreement for the 2.13 acres at 19617 N. St. Vrain Drive, which is next to the Baseline-Mocon industrial parcel and near the Eagle Canyon subdivision, if the seller accepts the agreement, and the town decides to move forward, the Town of Lyons could also put out an RFP for affordable housing developers who are interested in partnering with the town for this parcel. According to the agreement, the purchase price will be equivalent to the fair market value as determined by an appraisal. The town will get an appraisal of the property by the end of the month, considering the value of the property both “as-is” and as if it were annexed into the Town of Lyons and connected to town utilities. The sales agreement is on the Town of Lyons website atwww.townoflyons.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3590?fileID=8168.

Lyons can receive a maximum of $40,000 in CDBG-DR funds per each new affordable housing unit (up to $4 million total if a maximum of 100 new affordable housing units are built somewhere in town). Lyons could be close to getting that full funding, if all proposed projects happen.

In terms of federal and state funding, “affordable housing” typically means either rentals or for-sale homes that are affordable to people who make 60 percent of the area median income or less. Right now, 60 percent of the area median income is about $42,000 a year for an individual or $48,000-$50,000 for a two-person household. For that income range of 60 percent of the area median income, the monthly housing costs or rent that is affordable is around $1,300, depending on family size. To be “affordable,” housing costs should not be more than 30 percent of a household gross income.

The Town of Lyons currently has a total of 26 permanently affordable rentals (already in Lyons before the September 2013 flood): eight apartments at Bloomfield Place near the Stone Cup cafe, 12 apartments at Walter Self Senior Housing near the post office, and six apartments at Mountain Gate on 2nd Ave. The only in-progress post-flood affordable housing is at 2nd Avenue and Park Street where Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley is building six homes (in three duplexes) on land the non-profit purchased at the end of 2016. To volunteer, sign up at www.stvrainhabitat.org/construction.

To get an accurate number of housing stock lost in the September 2013 flood, there are two ways to count. First, according to counts of Town of Lyons water taps/customer accounts, 94 customer accounts were lost after the flood (taking into account the 32 homes in Riverbend Mobile Home Park that were originally part of one water tap). However, some of those customer accounts were on Apple Valley Road (not in town limits), and some lots in town have more than one water tap/customer account. A second way to count is the number of flood-damaged homes in the Town of Lyons lost to both the federal buyout programs and to the changed use of the Riverbend Mobile Home Park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use), which totals 76 lost residential units. Federal buyouts totaled 44 units – including all residential units in the Foothills Mobile Home Park – and there were also 32 families who lost homes in the Riverbend Mobile Home Park, which was rezoned as a commercial wedding and lodging venue after the flood.

This column is a weekly commentary (opinion column) in the Lyons Recorder about affordable housing after the September 2013 flood disaster in Lyons. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @ hotmail.com. For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog atlyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com.

Editor/Author of this blog

Amy Reinholds served on the Housing Recovery Task Force in Lyons, Colo., from December 2013 through its end in February 2015. She is currently a member of the Lyons Human Services and Aging Commission and served as a liaison to the Special Housing Committee during its existence from April 2015-April 2016. She has lived in Lyons since 2003 and in the surrounding Lyons area since 1995.